The end of the "driveway moment"

NPR (National Public radio) has in the past used a terrific image in its fund-raising: "Driveway Moments."

You're driving along, listening to a story on NPR. Suddenly, you find yourself at your destination, so riveted to a piece that you sit in your idling car to hear it all the way through. That's a Driveway Moment.

Such moments may be become history due to pod-casting.

I had just caught a part of a very interesting Christopher Lydon show on Rebuilding the Mississippi Coast when I arrived home a few nights ago. Lydon had just turned to Andres Duany for a response on some point (I think it was the trivial one about Seaside being "artificial" -- it's a beach resort, for god's sake!) when I pulled into the garage and I thought for a moment that I should sit and listen. But then I realized that I was also downloading these shows via ITunes and I could listen later (at my desk or via IPod) so I was able to turn off the engine and forgo a driveway moment.

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UPDATE: Btw, In fact that particular show was downloaded to my desktop computer automatically. I transferred it to my IPod and listened to it on a walk yesterday. Generally, it was worth my attention. And in particular, Lydon's snarky (ignorant?) attitude toward Seaside was well-answered by Duany's perceptive comeback -- that the major point of the Truman Show is that you can not believe what you see on the screen without applying critical judgment. I can't remember the film (but just added it to my Netflix queue) but it's a clever riposte.

Comments

[Mary Campbell Gallagher]

Andres is a great advocate and a great polemicist.

Mary